Blog Articles

I am super stoked to be writing our very first blog post for Awakening Ottawa – the first ever integrated web portal for all things spiritual, healing, and peace related in Ottawa-Gatineau. On Thursday, June 1, we did our first official radio launch for (phase 1 of) the site. I was interviewed by Suzette Schmiedel on CKCU's I Am Alive Radio Show. That's 3 firsts!

Now let's go over what the portal currently offers and then I'll briefly touch upon what's being planned in phases 2 (August 2017) and 3 (Fall 2017) for AwakeningOttawa.com

Guiding PillarsAwakening Ottawaincludes a MANDATE page describing 6 primary pillars. These pillars are not fixed in stone, but rather, gentle guiding principles with which the site is structured and can continue to evolve organically. Community integration, spiritual initiatives, and an events calendar are all examples of essential guiding pillars that drive the spiritual movement, create inspired action, and help to organize activities within the site itself.

Spiritual InitiativesNext is the INITIATIVES page. This page features some of the larger-in-scope spiritual initiatives taking place in Ottawa. Of the hundreds of events taking place on a monthly basis, the initiatives page would primarilyhighlight events, conferences, and festivals that impact the spiritual/healing/peace communities as a whole; for example, a HayHouse style event (Gregg Braden, Wayne Dyer, Deep Chopra, Caroline Myss) would be included here as well as a Kryon conference, the yearly Ottawa Peace Festival, VegFest, Cosmic Fair, and things of that nature.

Practitioner DirectoryThen we've got the DIRECTORY page: It gives folks from all walks of life the opportunity to promote their health and wellness businesses online in an easy to find, high visibility location. This directory is categorized into several subdirectories that feature everything from solo practitioners and nonprofit organizations, to spiritual trainings & nutrition schools, holistic & integrative clinics, yoga centres, wellness shops, and organic vegetarian restaurants.

The directory is also great for web visitors looking for a particular healing modality, holistic product/service, or training centre. For example, you may be considering a yoga teacher training and want to scope out the different offerings available in the Ottawa yoga space. Perhaps you simply want to attend an impromptu yoga class at a centre closest you. In either case, we've made the decision & search process really simple with the YOGA CENTRE subdirectory.

The same would be true of food. How often have you found yourself looking for some great new restaurants in a particular genre of cuisine? Or maybe you're an organic superfood fanatic who's new to the Ottawa area and wishes to check out all the nifty vegan-vegetarian dining options in the area? We've organized that in one convenient place, too: The RESTAURANT subdirectory, of course.

About Who?Now. . .about the ABOUTpage. Typically, this page would overview an individual or highlight the central theme of the website. With Awakening Ottawa however, we're using the About page in a somewhat different way: To describe the sacred energies of Ottawa itself. Specifically, we've highlighted converging evidence around Ottawa-Gatineau's spiritual emergence as a living and continually evolving energy centre – what some folks might refer to as a 'planetary chakra.'

Entrepreneur BlogAnd last but not least – the BLOG page! This will be a weekly blog that features interesting content articles ranging anywhere from 150 words (minimum) to 750 words (maximum). Blog posts will consist of pieces written by local entrepreneurs on a variety of cutting-edge topics.

There are 3 primary criteria to be eligible to contribute a blog piece to AwakeningOttawa.com: (1) You are already subscribed to one of the directory pages. (2) You are an expert on a relevant topic. (3) You have previously written and/or published pieces in your area of expertise.

Web UpgradesFor phase 2 of AwakeningOttawa.com, we'll be introducing a Dynamic Events Calendar. The events calendar is meant to be a one-stop shop for any and all of the exciting events and activities taking place in Ottawa that align with the overall content of this site. It'll be searchable by topic (e.g., sound healing, speaker events, festivals, brain health shows, meditation retreats).

In the fall of 2017, phase 3 will incorporate general upgrades to the site, which may include changes in overall aesthetics, functionality, graphical layout, or new content pages.

Digital PromotionsAwakeningOttawa.com has the potential to become the premiere spiritual hub in the National Capital Region. From this point forward, we'll continue to promote the site using a variety of digital avenues, social media, videos, and email send outs, as well as conventional media channels. But the fastest way to make this thing go viral is through word of mouth. That's where you come in! If you feel inspired about what you see on this website and you'd like to support the overall Awakening Ottawa initiative, kindly share the link with like-minded friends and kindred spirits.